The Kids Are All Right

"In California, everything's blue skies, beautiful ramps, and big skateparks. In New York, it's makeshift. You have to work with what you got. The spot here was in Williamsburg, and no longer exists. You know that new park that's on the water now? That's where it was."

Bobby Puleo, Williamsburg Park, by Mike O'Meally, 2001

"That's [former Santa Cruz pro] Steve Olson, in midtown. This model girl walked by and Steve was like 'I have to meet her.' Steve's a charmer. He knows how to draw the beautiful ladies in. So he cruised over and next thing you know she jumped on the board. People respect skateboarding more today—it wasn't always like that. But she was super cool. Very comfortable on a skateboard."

Steve Olson and model, by Ivory Serra, 2005

Steve Olson and model, by Ivory Serra, 2005

"This is one of those classic New York shots. In front of the Hassidic guy there's a little bump, a ramp that the kid is trying to skate. But the guy has no idea what's going on, he just keeps walking. And that's the thing about living here. Whatever you do, New York keeps moving."

Anthony Pappalardo, by Mike O'Meally, 2002

"Harold Hunter was one of the most legendary skateboarders in New York. He grew up in the Compos Plaza Housing Projects on the Lower East Side, though this was taken in Times Square. It really captures the lights and movement of the city, but also Harold's personality. He was just funny as hell. He could always make the light shine and make you laugh. He showed that through his skating. He always had fun.

Larry Clark put him in his movie, Kids. He passed away a couple years ago. If it wasn't for Harold, none of us would have ever gone past Avenue B."

Harold Hunter, Times Square, by Charlie Samuels

"That's another photo of Harold, catching a cab. One of the fun things about skating in New York is you can hold on to cars, especially back in the day. The drivers never seemed to notice."

Harold Hunter, by Charlie Samuels, 1989

"The Courthouse is an awesome spot, but many people do tricks off that drop.

That's Eli Reed. He's going to land on the angled part below, then drop off to the left. He's also doing that switchstance, or wrong-footed. Every time I see this my balls freeze up."

Eli Reed, courthouse, by Allen Ying, 2000s

"This was in midtown. A really fun spot. Midtown is a lot office buildings though, so security gets pretty pissed off. One day we showed up and they had rottweilers."

Kenny Reed, Midtown, by Mike O'Meally, 1999

"Coco Santiago and Sean Sheffey were on the Shut team, the most epic team to be on at the time because Shut was one of the first skateboard companies out of New York. They're shot here by Bryce Kanights, one of the legendary skate photographers and a former pro."

Coco Santiago and Sean Sheffey, midtown, by Bryce Kanights early 90s

"That's on Broadway, the day after 9/11. All the streets were closed."

Crew pushing, by Mike O'Meally, 2001

"This is another one by Bryce. The whole crew. If you saw Dogtown Z-Boyz, everyone's got blonde hair and surf shorts. This is the New York version of that. It's a more mid bag."

Crew portrait, Central Park, by Bryce Kanights, 1980s

"Brooklyn Banks is the hub of New York Skateboarding. You wanted to find somebody—you go to Brooklyn Banks. That's where you would meet up, that's where you would hang out, that's where you would skate. It's gonna be closed till 2014 but Steve Rodriguez, owner of 5boro, is trying to petition the city to opened up again as an official skatepark."

Rodney Smith and Mike Kepper, by Bryce Kanights, 1989

"That's a photo of me doing a frontside noseslide in Soho on Prince St. That ledge is still there, by the Calvin Klein store. Yeah, I can ollie that high. It's my specialty."

Alex Corporan, Soho, by Mike O'Meally, 1990s

"That's a hefty kickflip off of a little rig that a truck pulled. Sometime they have banks off them and so you can skate them. No one was there, so we went for it. That's the beauty of NYC. You just skate around and you find stuff. California, you drive everywhere, and you never know what you just passed."

Todd Jordan, Brooklyn, by Allen Ying, 2000s

"This was taken at FIT. (The Fashion Institute of Technology). We don't know who the skater was. I love the fat security guard, because he can't get the kid down from there."

Unknown skater, F.I.T. sculpture, by Allen Ying 2000s

"Besides Brooklyn Banks and Astor Place, Union Square was the place. In the back there's that empty lot. So you can do whatever you want."

Akira Mowatt, Union Square, by Allen Ying, 2002

"That's Jack Sabback. He's quiet-he'll hardly even say 'hey what's up.' Then he does something like this, and it's like 'wow-that just came out this guy?'"

Jack Sabback, Brooklyn, by Brian Uyeda, 2000s

"Andy Kessler is one of the original skaters from new York. He helped build all of the skateparks that have been around in the past 10 years. He passed away, but he left a great mark in skateboarding."

Andy Kessler, Midtown, by Ivory Serra 2005

"Once again, there's Harold, goofing around on the subway. That kid rode his skateboard everywhere. That's what I loved about putting the book together. People just keep popping up."